More bad news for Google in India: CCI imposes Rs 936.44 crore penalty for anti-competitive practices

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has imposed a penalty of Rs 936.44 crore on Google for abusing its dominant position with respect to its Play Store policies, apart from issuing a cease-and-desist order. The Commission also directed Google to modify its conduct within a defined timeline.

For app developers, app stores have become a necessary medium for distribution of their apps to the end users and the availability of app store(s) is directly dependent on the OS installed on a smart device. An appreciation of the market dynamics in licensable mobile operating systems in India makes it evident that Google’s Android OS has successfully reaped the indirect network effects. Google’s Play Store constitutes the main distribution channel for app developers in the Android mobile ecosystem, which allows its owners to capitalize on the apps brought to market.